I will be visiting Vienna, Prague, Budapest soon. Is that a trip best done driving a car or ditch the car and use trains/buses?
Any advice welcome.
Any advice welcome.
Central Europe
- Thread starter Arde
- Start date
Philippe db
Well-Known Member
Hi Arde,
For sure possible by car. Most of the time you can use empty state of the art new highways paid for by the EU. However renting a car over here is a lot more expensive compared to what you guys are used to pay. Same for fuel of course x2 or more compared to the US.
For sure possible by car. Most of the time you can use empty state of the art new highways paid for by the EU. However renting a car over here is a lot more expensive compared to what you guys are used to pay. Same for fuel of course x2 or more compared to the US.
both choices are good, personally if you are going to visit the mentioned cities, and not other spots in the way to them or in the neighbouring areas, i would prefer the train between the cities and urban transport then, i recall wien has a nice city-bike service very interesting to visit such a vast city centre
I agree on this, but at the same time you see alot else/more when driving between the cities compared to the train. Both alternatives are good choises, just depends on what you're after. Budapest also got a nice city-bike service, and you can buy a "Budapest-Card" for relatively cheap that allows you to use all the public transport like metro/tram/buses.
Arde,
When in Prague be sure to sign up for a Beer and Tapas tour. We did this last summer and the beer and pork is amazing! Better beer than in Munich.
When in Prague be sure to sign up for a Beer and Tapas tour. We did this last summer and the beer and pork is amazing! Better beer than in Munich.
OK so the car is a viable option, we are going to be 3 to 4 people so it should be efficient.
My son is a classical music player (oboe) so we will have to include places related to Mozart and others that may be out of the way, or castles, who knows.
The themes are:
M&M (music and medieval),
Architecture,
Food of course,
Nature,
History.
See the EU before it blows up, how is my plan?
The specific questionnaire is:
- Stay in cities vs outskirts?
- Use airbnb or traditional hotel/motel?
- How do I approach smartphone usage, prepaid SIM card for our phones? Rent a phone? Just roam and pay for bandwidth? Steal wifi from cafes and never use 4G?
- Have every night stay already booked or last minute reservation from the road?
- Good car rental company for that area? The usual american companies?
My son is a classical music player (oboe) so we will have to include places related to Mozart and others that may be out of the way, or castles, who knows.
The themes are:
M&M (music and medieval),
Architecture,
Food of course,
Nature,
History.
See the EU before it blows up, how is my plan?
The specific questionnaire is:
- Stay in cities vs outskirts?
- Use airbnb or traditional hotel/motel?
- How do I approach smartphone usage, prepaid SIM card for our phones? Rent a phone? Just roam and pay for bandwidth? Steal wifi from cafes and never use 4G?
- Have every night stay already booked or last minute reservation from the road?
- Good car rental company for that area? The usual american companies?
If you will be using the gps on your phone it will burn a lot of data so plan accordingly.
Phone: AT&T charges $40 for thirty days for reduced rate calls, free texting but may use tiny amount of data if pics included, use wifi whenever possible.
Prague: city center best, we stayed at the Boscolo Prague, $250/night and five stars, book in advance, why take chances?
First class train Prague to Vienna $80, 4 hours, lovely countryside views
Car not needed in Prague or Vienna, walk, bus, subway, bike tours, walking tours
Use Bank ATMs, our credit union charged us nothing, machines have many languages available, credit card for hotels, didn't need a smart chip either.
Everyone spoke English and had English menus as well
I was worried about these same things, no need to worry, it was much easier than I imagined, just enjoy the trip.
Prague: city center best, we stayed at the Boscolo Prague, $250/night and five stars, book in advance, why take chances?
First class train Prague to Vienna $80, 4 hours, lovely countryside views
Car not needed in Prague or Vienna, walk, bus, subway, bike tours, walking tours
Use Bank ATMs, our credit union charged us nothing, machines have many languages available, credit card for hotels, didn't need a smart chip either.
Everyone spoke English and had English menus as well
I was worried about these same things, no need to worry, it was much easier than I imagined, just enjoy the trip.
Arde - For that many people I would rent a car. The only caveat is that if you are doing a one way trip (i.e. dropping the car off in a different city) it can be expensive. We went Munich to Budapest recently and it ran about $600 extra just for the one-way drop off charge but we were 4 people and it made sense with the stops between cities. Check out Sixt car rental. If you start and end in Vienna, then it shouldn't be a problem. Once in the cities leave the car parked. Budapest has the day passes for around $18 for 24hr and less for the longer 2 and 3 day passes. The subway system is easy to use. Lots of cool stuff in Budapest: the Castle district, St. Matthias there is an amazing church. The parliament building along the river has recently been cleaned. Definitely walk by this at night. Actually, walking along the east river bank from the Elizabeth bridge to the Margeret Hid is beautiful at night with the the bridges and castle district all lit up. Check online for the music scene offerings. There will usually be Liszt music playing somewhere. The main market at the south end of the Vaci, the City park out east, maybe a tour of the opera house on Andrassy Street.. The list goes on. PM me if you want a hotel or restaurant recommendations. We lived there for a while and have visited a few times since. Enjoy.
Bwana
Well-Known Member
We always stayed in city center when we did M/C touring. Walk to food and bars, don't have to get back in the vehicle. Check out a hotel chain called "Ibis". A step above Motel 6 here but it's always central, usually has parking, and always a bar downstairs! What's not to like?
Awesome inputs, thanks, we are making some plans and would combine many of the above ideas. The trip will actually start in Northern Italy but would pick up and return the car in Vienna.
Get a Europe SIM with data plan for you phone and use wifi as much as you can.
I used to do that and spend 1/10th of what my colleague on AT&T did for two weeks abroad.
Hi Arde;
My wife and I did the same trip with friends of mine who owned a small mansion in Chekoslavakia on the Austrian border. The coutryside is too beautiful to miss and driving from country to country was fantastic. Car is definitely the way to go in my opinion. Gives you an oportunity to stop wherever and whenever to see sites like you have never seen again. Prices were extremely low in Chekoslavakia ten yeras ago like dinner in a nice Hotel for four cost under twenty dollars. Austria was the opposite and costs were higher than the US at the time. Budapest was not part of the trip but W. Germany was,however we spent very little time in the mountains W. Germany which is where we crossed the bordeand as soon as we did someone backed into our rental car and took the fun out of the day in W. Germany.
Have fun!
Koopman
A quick note to thank folks for the inputs, just arrived in Budapest and settled into a cute loft. On the Italian part of the trip I rented a Lancia Ypsilon with the engine of a lawn mower I believe. For Central Europe a Peugeot 308 diesel. Great trip, kind of confirms our roots, I went from Austro-Hungarian to Extra-Hungry and my daughter is a Magyar gipsy that can travel forever. The rental car company does not allow me to go explore the Transulvanian part of the roots that Hungary lost in 1918 to Romania....
Now this European business of charging money for public restrooms is the worst form of age discrimination Eurocrats could allow.
Not quite uneventful though, but heck this is our see Europe before it is too late trip...
Now this European business of charging money for public restrooms is the worst form of age discrimination Eurocrats could allow.
Not quite uneventful though, but heck this is our see Europe before it is too late trip...
Arde,
My phone butt dialed you yesterday, sorry about that! Enjoy your trip.
My phone butt dialed you yesterday, sorry about that! Enjoy your trip.